Books › The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904 › scan 23
Scan 23
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
8 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 19. See the scan on archive.org.
1ANTONIO STRADIVARI. THE HEALY STRAD AND THE EARL STRAD
3to be ninety-two years. The date of the instrument was 1737. There are also several other violins bearing labels giving his age, which add further proof that he was born in 1644. While it would be interesting to know the antecedents of Antonio, there is small hope that such information can be secured, so we must content ourselves with surmises. He was no doubt a fair specimen of the Italian child, no better and no worse than the average. It does not follow that because he distinguished himself when a man, he did so when a child. Rather the contrary, for a man in his prime at the age of seventy-five must have taken many years to ripen. So it is not reported that he exhibited remarkable talent for violin-making at the tender age of four, or thereabouts, as have some of his modern imitators. It is probable that in the year 1660 he entered upon his apprenticeship with Nicola Amati. Here he was to remain until 1666. Allowing four years as the duration of his apprenticeship (which is probably too long a term), he may have worked the remainder of the period as an assistant to Amati. Nicola Amati undoubtedly considered Stradivari as his successor in the art. A glance at the work of Hieronymus Amati, son of Nicola, substantiates this opinion. While the Hieronymus violins have not a little tone merit, and are in a general way in keeping with the traditions of the family, yet the workmanship is not that of such an adept as to give Nicola Amati great pride. It is not unlikely that Hieronymus, the son of a comparatively wealthy man, and probably inheriting a considerable estate, enjoyed a life of ease and comfort more than one of hard work.
5And now let us pass from the environments of Stradivari and take a glance at the man himself. A chronicle of the daily events of the years spent in the workshop of his master would afford very valuable information and be of great interest, for with Stradivari were associated several young men who afterward attained fame and distinction. Among them were Andrea Guarneri, Giovanni Battista Ruggeri, Francesco Ruggeri, Paolo Grancino, and possibly Francesco Gobetti, and Santo Serafino and others. Imagine the keeness of rivalry among such scholars under the eye of such a master as Amati! Conditions more favorable for the development of talent or more productive of results, never existed before or after, and in the sphere of the violin probably never will again. And here lies one reason for the pre-eminence of the product of that time as against the less artistic instrument made elsewhere, and the mediocre character of modern instruments. The nearest approach to the conditions which existed in Cremona was that period in France which produced such names as Castagneri, Lupot, Gand, Pique, Bernardel, Chanot, etc., men whose instruments rank next to the Italian, and completely distance the makers of other countries outside of Italy.
7In 1667, on the 4th of July, Stradivari married Francesca Ferraboschi, the widow of a wine-merchant named Capra. He was twenty-three and she twenty-seven. The nuptial mass was said in the Church of St. Agata, in Cremona. It is altogether likely that Stradivari established himself in business in the preceding year, as from that date his labels first appear. A violin bearing date of 1666, large size, lemon-color varnish, is known to be in China. He no doubt by this time was possessed of a valuable acquaintance among violinists and the dilettanti of the day. His skill was beginning to be recognized, and it is natural to suppose that he received the encouragement he deserved. Amati at this time was an old man, and could not hope to continue many years longer in active work, so Stradivari had every reason to hope
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